LiveBlog: Giants-Bucs, first quarter

Vinnie Iyer breaks down the ongoing action of the Giants-Buccaneers first-round NFC playoff game:
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Giant problems (0:15 left): As I mentioned before, safety play is key to the Bucs’ defense. They’ve brought up one safety, Jermaine Phillips, to help stuff Brandon Jacobs, and the other safety, rookie Tanard Jackson, has been good in coverage. It looks like the Bucs’ defenders are everywhere, which has resulted in the Giants going nowhere -- no first-quarter first downs.
The importance of having Earnest (1:49 left): The Bucs came out pounding running back Earnest Graham with some strong rushes on their second drive, and it appropriately ends with a Graham goal-line punch-in. In the wake of another Cadillac injury, Graham has emerged as a very durable and productive back who has worked well with the team’s talented young run-blocking line. He’s looked great on his nine touches for 47 total yards, and as a result, the Bucs are dominating with ball control. Tampa Bay 7, New York 0.
A lack of Plax (7:02 left): The Bucs’ cover-2 pass defense is built to have its safeties responsible for deep halves of the field and take away home-run balls. In this game, that means doing everything they can to slow down Plaxico Buress. We’ll see if Eli Manning presses with his favorite target being held in check early after another three and out.
Bucs a bit better, but that’s it (9:17 left): Tampa Bay is able to convert a couple third downs but still can’t get past midfield. Looks like Jeff Garcia is trying to shake off a little rust from pretty much not seeing significant action for a game and a half.
Giants go three and out (13:17 left): New York’s goal needs to be to sustain long drives by powering big feature back Brandon Jacobs to wear down the Bucs’ speedy, active but undersized defensive front. Jacobs’ first rush on second down loses a yard, and it leads to a Giants punt. We’ll see how not having top center Shaun O’Hara hurts on runs between the tackles.
Pre-kickoff thoughts: Wait, this is playoff football? A balmy 70 degrees and perfect blue sky? That’s good news for the game’s two big-play connections, Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress and Jeff Garcia to Joey Galloway. Both teams will prefer to dink and dunk, but they also need to stretch the defenses early.↵